President Obama Gesture to Marines Dubbed ‘Latte Salute’

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Devin Dwyer - ABC News


Some are calling it the “latte salute.”

When President Obama stepped off Marine One at the Wall Street landing zone in New York City, en route the United Nations, he saluted two Marines at the bottom of the stairs as he held a coffee cup in the same hand.

The unusual gesture appeared in an Instagram video posted by the White House on social media. Obama is also wearing sunglasses as he arrived, with the first lady not far behind.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fl0tsOmWFc

The video drew ridicule from some Instagram users, who saw the unorthodox salute as “un-presidential.”

“Hopefully it was just a slip by this President,” one user posted.

Others saw unnecessary nitpicking in the criticism.

“People are dying from disease, abuse or even hunger,” another user commented on the video. “Priorities.”

While it is protocol for U.S. service members in uniform to salute the commander in chief, it’s not required for a civilian president to salute back, military experts say. Ronald Reagan is thought to have set precedent for the practice back in 1981.

However one feels about today’s salute, it’s unlikely any coffee was at play. President Obama prefers hot tea.

[RBP]

The President responded to the criticism on Twitter:

Commander in motherfucking CHIEF, bitches! LOL #yolo #swagger

[Griffin]

When the time comes that he needs these guys they'll be like " yeah,yeah...wait till my breaks over!"

[Godfather]

Presidents didn't even salute the military until Reagan. That's right, even Ike didn't do it. You don't salute out of uniform, it's not a requirement for potus. And Bush saluted with that yappy little dog in his arm.

People make mountains out of molehills for their full time job.

[FBD]

:lol: At this point its just making fun of a sad little puppet that doesnt really want to do his job anymore, but mooch makes him keep it so that they can keep getting free vacations

[Teh One Who Knocks]

http://i.imgur.com/mPFCdmz.gif

So, all that said, where does the tradition of saluting by the president come from? Many believe it began with President Ronald Reagan. He certainly was the first to consistantly exercise the hand salute, but during my research I also found a photograph of President Franklin Roosevelt engaging in what appears to be a hand salute. More frequently he was shown saluting by placing his hand, or hat, over his heart as in the photo above.

About the tradition, Ronald Reagan said, "I never ceased to enjoy reviewing our men and women in uniform and hope I started a new tradition for presidents. As Commander In Chief, I discovered it was customary for our uniformed men and women to salute whenever they saw me. When I'd walk down the steps of a helicopter, for example, there was always a Marine waiting there to salute me."

http://i.imgur.com/nn80zUI.jpg

"I was told presidents weren't supposed to return salutes, so I didn't, but this made me feel a little uncomfortable. Normally, a person offering a salute waits until it is returned, then brings down his hand. Sometimes, I realized, the soldier, sailor, Marine, or airman giving me a salute wasn't sure when he was supposed to lower his hand. Initially, I nodded and smiled and said hello and thought maybe that would bring down the hand, but usually it didn't. Finally, one night when Nancy and I were attending a concert at the Marine Corps Headquarters, I told the Commandant of Marines, "I know it's customary for the President to receive these salutes, but I was once an officer and realize that you're not supposed to salute when you're in civilian clothes. I think there ought to be a regulation that the president could return a salute inasmuch as he is commander in chief and civilian clothes are his uniform." "Well, if you did return a salute," the general said, "I don't think anyone would say anything to you about it."

"The next time I got a salute, I saluted back. A big grin came over the Marine's face and down came his hand. From then on, I always returned salutes. When George Bush followed me into the White House, I encouraged him to keep up the tradition."

We need another Reagan :(

[FBD]

yeah, except one that doesnt roll over when shot

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Aaron Sharockman - The Tampa Bay Times


http://i.imgur.com/5GiCJHC.png
A screen grab of President Dwight Eisenhower saluting a Medal of Honor winner.

You likely heard this already, but some conservatives and members of the military are upset that President Barack Obama saluted to Marines on Tuesday while holding a cup. Others are coming to Obama’s defense.

We can summarize the incident in three short snippets. (And don’t worry, there’s a fact-check coming.)

Here’s a slice of the reaction, this one from Fox News commentator and former President George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove.

http://i.imgur.com/YMGTq1G.png

"Look, he knows there are going to be two Marines at the bottom of Marine One when he gets off, and the idea that I’m going to just jaunt out there with my chai tea, and give them the old … you know it’s not a latte salute, it’s a chai salute, because he drinks chai tea, but I mean please, how disrespectful was that?" Rove asked.

Lastly, we found this defense of Obama on the website, Taskandpurpose.com.

"There’s no regulation that stipulates presidents must salute the troops. In fact, for the first 192 years of our republic, it didn’t happen. None of the first 38 commanders in chief did it," wrote Brian Adam Jones.

To prove it, Jones quotes from MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s 2012 book Drift. Maddow says saluting was a thing started by Ronald Reagan.


"Soldiers were supposed to salute their president; the president was not supposed to salute the soldiers. No modern president, not even old Gen. Eisenhower, had saluted military personnel. It might even be, well, sort of, improper."

We wouldn’t normally dig up a claim a few years old, but the current fascination with the presidential salute and Jones' post had us wondering about Maddow’s claim that "not even old Gen. Eisenhower, had saluted military personnel."

YouTube and archival video proves this claim wrong.

As President-elect, Eisenhower visited Korea during the Korean War. In this video (http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675058223_Dwight-Eisenhower_United-Nations-troops_President-Syngman-Rhee_Korean-War), Eisenhower clearly salutes American and United Nations troops. The salute is about 2 minutes, 30 seconds in.

If you need proof of Eisenhower saluting the troops after taking the Oath of Office and in civilian clothes, he did so on Nov. 10, 1954, while attending the dedication of the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial. (http://www.nps.gov/gwmp/historyculture/usmcwarmemorial.htm)

Footage of the dedication clearly shows Eisenhower saluting military personnel, first when he exits a car and later as he is walking past Marines.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_ZYVPJVW1c

Or here’s a clip from 1953 (http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675020751_President-Dwight-D-Eisenhower_Medals-of-Honor_Hiroshi-Miyamura_James-L-Stone), where Eisenhower is awarding the Medal of Honor to Korean War soldiers. He salutes at the 1:15 mark and again around 2:57.

This 1959 video (http://www.britishpathe.com/video/eisenhower-arrives-in-rome/query/EISENHOWER+INSPECTS) shows Eisenhower saluting what appear to be Italian troops, about 40 seconds in, and again at about 1 minute, 15 seconds.

So clearly Eisenhower did salute military personnel as president, contrary to Maddow's claim.

We suspect Maddow’s basis for her description may have roots in a 2007 New York Times opinion piece by Garry Wills, a professor emeritus of history at Northwestern University, as well as a 2004 op-ed by then-Reagan military aide and now-Minnesota U.S. Rep. John Kline.

Wills was writing about presidents saluting soldiers when they board and exit Marine One (just like Obama on Tuesday).


"We are reminded, for instance, of the expanded commander in chief status every time a modern president gets off the White House helicopter and returns the salute of marines.

"That is an innovation that was begun by Ronald Reagan. Dwight Eisenhower, a real general, knew that the salute is for the uniform, and as president he was not wearing one. An exchange of salutes was out of order."

We couldn’t locate a copy of Kline’s op-ed, which ran in The Hill, but a 2008 Reuters account of the op-ed describes Reagan taking up the saluting issue with Gen. Robert Barrow, who was the commandant of the Marine Corps.

Reagan explained as much in a 1986 speech to service members and their families. (http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/101286a.htm)

"I can't resist telling you a little story that I've just told the marine guard at the Embassy. The story has to do with saluting. I was a second lieutenant of horse cavalry back in the World War II days. As I told the admiral, I wound up flying a desk for the Army Air Force. And so, I know all the rules about not saluting in civilian clothes and so forth, and when you should or shouldn't. But then when I got this job -- (laughter) -- and I would be approaching Air Force One or Marine One and those Marines would come to a salute and I -- knowing that I am in civilian clothes -- I would nod and say ‘Hello’ and think they could drop their hand, and they wouldn't. They just stood there. So, one night over at the commandant's quarters, Marine Commandant's quarters in Washington, and I was getting a couple of highballs, and I didn't -- (laughter) -- know what to do with them. So, I said to the commandant -- I said, ‘Look, I know all the rules about saluting in civilian clothes and all, but if I am the Commander in Chief, there ought to be a regulation that would permit me to return a salute.’ And I heard some words of wisdom. He said, ‘I think if you did, no one would say anything.’

"So, if you see me on television and I'm saluting, you know that I've got authority for it now -- (laughter) -- and I do it happily."

For the record, Army regulations (http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/r600_25.pdf) simply say soldiers are not required to salute when they are in civilian clothes.

What to make of all of this?

Reagan does appear to be the first president who made the presidential salute commonplace, especially when exiting or boarding Air Force One or Marine One. But Eisenhower did return salute of military members while he served as president, including when he was in civilian attire.

In an emailed response to PunditFact, Maddow said Reagan started the presidential salute as a regular, daily feature.

"He started it -- other presidents have continued the practice since then," Maddow said. "That’s the truth.

"Acknowledging that truth is not the same thing as saying that no president ever threw a salute, on occasion, before then," she said.

Our ruling

Maddow wrote, "Not even old Gen. Eisenhower … saluted military personnel" as president.

For the record, no president is required to salute military personnel. And presidential salutes did not become commonplace until Reagan became president.

But Eisenhower, a five-star U.S. Army general, did salute "military personnel" as president, at least occasionally. We searched archived videos for about 90 minutes and found video evidence of seven salutes. Does that mean he did it all the time? No.

Reagan perhaps made the practice routine, but Eisenhower did salute military personnel. We rate Maddow's claim Mostly False.

[FBD]

Its been so long since Iv'e seen fox news, I forgot how annoying it was. Was at my parents the other day and cripes stfu! Cant stand listening to any of this shit anymore, this is why my tv gets turned on for hockey football and movies and that's IT